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USF Fights Hard, Falls Late In Season Finale
March 5, 2010
San Francisco women's basketball capped the 2010 season Friday with a 61-54 loss to Loyola Marymount at the Zappos.com West Coast Conference Tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The seventh-seeded Dons led for a majority of the contest until the sixth-seeded Lions' defense held off USF to propel LMU to the victory.
USF finished the season 5-27, while LMU improved to 13-16 with the win.
Neither team held more than a two point lead early in the first half, until an 8-0 San Francisco run gave the Dons an 18-11 lead at 9:48. Loyola Marymount fought back but was never able to fully recover as USF controlled the lead for the remainder of the half. Capped by nine first half points by Heidi Anton, the Dons took a 33-29 lead into halftime. The difference in the closely played half was efforts off the bench. San Francisco's bench posted 18 points, compared to nine from the Loyola Marymount reserves.
San Francisco struggled to make baskets in the second half, recording a 20.6 shooting percentage, hitting 7-of-34 from the field. San Francisco held onto its halftime lead until the 10:36 mark, when Loyola Marymount's Alex Cowling's tip game the Lions a 42-41 lead. The Dons would come back and take the lead twice throughout the remainder of the game, but never by more than one point. Following back-to-back three-pointers by Anton and Rheina Ale, USF took at 52-53 lead with 4:01 remaining. The LMU defense then took charge, holding the Dons scoreless for nearly the remainder of the contest. USF will rattle off one more basket with six seconds left, a tip by Vania Singleterry, but it was too little, too late as Loyola Marymount advanced to face fifth-seeded Pepperdine in the quarterfinals.
Ale led the Dons with 13 total points, an assist and two steals. With the 13 points, Ale finished her sophomore campaign with 25 10-plus point games. The guard from Carson also moved up in the single season record book Friday, hitting two 3-pointers to finish third and played 38 minutes to move her into sixth in the single season minutes played ranks.
Anton saved her best scoring effort of the season, and her young career, for the season finale, scoring 12 points. The sophomore also added a rebound as the Dons main reserve.
Donnisha Taylor and Singleterry added nine points for USF, while Katy Keating added five off the bench.
Junior Tawny Drexler led the USF defensive efforts with eight rebounds, five offensive. Senior Nnenna Okereke and Taylor each pulled down seven.
Loyola Marymount was led by Alex Cowling, who had 19 points. Young finished with 14.
